This invention relates to image analysis of biological cells. More specifically, it relates to methods, computer program products, and apparatus for automatically analyzing images to determine whether individual cells within those images are alive or dead.
A number of methods exist for investigating the effect of a treatment or a potential treatment, such as administering a drug or pharmaceutical to an organism. Some methods investigate how a treatment affects the organism at the cellular level so as to determine the mechanism of action by which the treatment affects the organism. One approach to assessing effects at a cellular level involves capturing images of cells that have been subjected to a treatment. At times, it will be desirable to determine whether individual cells within a population of cells were alive or dead during image capture. For example, a researcher may need to quickly determine the relative numbers of live and dead cells in a population treated with a chemical compound or other stimulus. This may show the effectiveness of a treatment on pathogenic cells or the potential side effects of the treatment on benign cells.
Further, in some lines of research, phenotypic characteristics of dead cells may mask interesting morphological characteristics resulting from a treatment under investigation. Techniques that distinguish live and dead cells could unmask the effect by allowing researchers to focus on live cells and thereby determine the true impact of the treatment on live cells. Such techniques could also prevent researchers from mistakenly concluding that a general morphological feature of dead cells is a specific result of the treatment under investigation.
What is needed therefore is an improved image analysis technique for distinguishing live cells from dead cells.